Sather Financial Group Inc Has $39.39 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sather Financial Group Inc grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,427 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 2.7% of Sather Financial Group Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Sather Financial Group Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $39,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after buying an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,061,490,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466,684 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,556,676,000 after acquiring an additional 68,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, May 24th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.33.

Accenture Stock Up 0.8 %

ACN traded up $2.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $333.27. 1,084,902 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,841,372. The company has a market cap of $208.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $315.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $326.50.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.